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Tuesday, March 20, 2007
712 Flight of Wyoming youth out of state
Our four grown children might reflect a typical family in Wyoming. They all graduated from high school in our state but three ended up in other states around the country.
And they have headed to some very nice places.
One lives in St. George, Utah and another in Bend, Oregon, which are ranked 2nd and 3rd as fastest growing small cities in the entire country. A third one lives in another posh Dallas suburb – Allen, TX.
And we were lucky enough to have one of our kids live here in Lander.
And this brings to mind what a lot of people in Wyoming are concerned about called our Brain Drain to other states
It could be argued that the rest of the world is not upset by the brain drain that has occurred in Wyoming over the past 50 years. But this question is asked constantly by our business leaders: Why are so many of our young people heading out of state for jobs?
There’s a couple in Casper whose three kids were educated at Dartmouth, Notre Dame and Stanford. “They will never live here,” the father, laments, in the same breath as he maintains how proud he is that they’ve done so well.
One conclusion that I came to a long time ago is that it can be a waste of energy to fret over the exodus of many of Wyoming’s young people. Some of our more ornery citizens even complain about how our tax money is educating our youth so they can go elsewhere and help out employers in other states.
Why do so many of our best and brightest leave?
Cheyenne attorney Paul Hickey lists one big reason why so many Wyoming women move away – Colorado’s wages are substantially higher than Wyoming’s for women. Our gender gap is an embarrassment. It seems the Equality State is not so equal – especially when it comes providing real wages for women.
Much the same can be said for young men. Most of best and brightest flee the state as soon as they are educated. A great many young men and women also leave Wyoming to be educated elsewhere.
Wanderlust used to be a virtue among most young people. A huge percentage of the present population of Wyoming came here from somewhere else – or at least their parents or grandparents did.
Rather than worry about it, I think there is something we can do about it. Here is a strategy to entice them back home.
Let’s locate those folks. We can recruit our young people who have moved to other states to come home where the air is clean and the opportunities are growing. There are great futures here for business leaders, lone eagles, small manufacturers, eBay-types, etc. all over our state.
No state in the country is as prosperous as Wyoming right now. This is a great time to capitalize on it.
And rather than wasting our time trying to recruit folks who never heard of us – let’s go after those people who are very familiar with Wyoming.
Some years ago, I wrote a column in a statewide newspaper’s business section, which detailed the Achilles Heel of Wyoming’s desired and projected economic expansion – the lack of qualified workers who live here.
My solution involved inviting natives and former residents back home as a key way to solve this problem.
Because of my newspaper marketing experience, I think that the state should work with the Wyoming Press Association in sending out advertisements and brochures as inserts in newspapers mailed to former Wyomingites, now living outside the state.
As a former president the WPA, I know that there are probably more than 12,000 papers mailed out of state each week. Those subscribers are prime candidates to accept an invitation to come home. Plus these papers maintain great web sites, which are being accessed constantly.
Here are some other folks that would be worth recruiting home to Wyoming:
• Unique institutions like the National Outdoor Leadership School in Lander have more than 50,000 graduates across the world, all of which recall wonderful times during their stay in our state.
• The list of servicemen who have spent time at Warren Air Force Base might be a good place to recruit people to return to our state.
• The out-of-state folks who have applied for and purchased hunting and fishing permits in Wyoming would be ideal candidates to move here.
• Vigorous retirees are always good candidates. They would bring their own retirement income with them plus often they end up investing in local businesses. Wyoming offers a huge budget surplus, low taxes, good medical care, low population, relatively inexpensive housing and a wonderful vigorous lifestyle.
• The mailing list of University of Wyoming graduates would be invaluable, as would the list of grads from the state’s community colleges. Efforts might be made around class reunion time to inform our natives about what a great state Wyoming is for business today.
Some years ago, the Wyoming Business Council did focus groups with UW graduates now living in the Denver area. One of the questions asked was “Does Federal Express serve Wyoming?”
With questions like that, it is obvious we can do a better job of informing our departed sons and daughters of what kind of business opportunities are currently available here in their home state.
With our budget surplus, Wyoming is in a great position to enjoy economic expansion in all corners of the state. But the biggest hurdle to that happening may be the lack of an educated, trained workforce. This “Come Home to Wyoming” program could sure help toward solving that problem.
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Thursday, March 15, 2007
713 Best-known Wyoming folks
As occupants of the least-populated state in the union, we Wyomingites can sometimes feel like we have little influence in the big world around us.
As our frontier state becomes the preeminent energy source for the nation, well, maybe it is time to see how our people can perform on the national stage.
A few weeks ago in this column, I wondered if Vice President Dick Cheney had become perhaps the best known Wyoming person. Ever.
Now this is a big statement and it brought both comments of agreement and some howls from his detractors. But we are not talking about most popular or even most influential, but who is best known?
It is probably true as Mr. Cheney has carved out a gigantic niche of influence in this country and around the world. Even Time Magazine and The New York Times called him “the most powerful Vice President in our country’s history.” Of course, neither story reported that as a positive attribute, as they chronicle the problems the Iraq War by the USA, which many call Cheney’s War.
Politics, aside, though, who besides Mr. Cheney could make that claim that they could be the most famous Wyomingite, ever?
A case was made to me by one of my more sports-minded readers that the late Curt Gowdy was better known and was universally loved and respected. Mr. Gowdy did World Series and Super Bowl broadcasts plus about a jillion wildlife shows and just about every major sporting event ever held in this country during his distinguished career.
But the best known, across the scale? Probably not.
Some years ago, former U. S. Sen. Al Simpson was in the news so much, especially during the term of the first President Bush, well, he had taken on a profile that still is mighty high. Look at his recent service on the Iraq Study Group, for example. But, again, Mr. Cheney, who considers Mr. Simpson one of his mentors, has far surpassed his friend.
Former Gov Mike Sullivan became an international hero, when as U. S. Ambassador to Ireland, he helped broker important peace accords that have kept the Irish factions at bay for some time now. A job probably never fully appreciated back here in his home state.
We have media darlings like Jackson Hole lawyer Gerry Spence. A TV maven and chronic author, his latest book Bloodthirsty Bitches and Pious Pimps of Power will add to his national appearances and publicize his home state. Gerry has been a great ambassador for Wyoming and his books are very well written. As a young reporter I watched him completely take over courtrooms in murder trials that looked unwinnable to me, but he would still prevail.
Is he in Mr. Cheney’s league? No.
That brings us back to who possibly could top Dick Cheney when it comes to being the best known on a national or international stage? I can think of only one, but will wait until the end before revealing it.
A huge argument could be made for Buffalo Bill Cody. Like Mr. Cheney, Mr. Cody was born in Nebraska, but made a name for himself here in Wyoming and around the world.
One expert was recently quoted as saying Cody is still the top western brand worldwide and only trails Coke and Elvis Presley as icons around the world. For at least a century, people from Europe could identify the American West primarily with Buffalo Bill.
Others worthy of consideration would be Powell native and UW grad W. Edwards Deming, the guru of quality manufacturing. He deserves way more respect than what he has been given.
We have Indian icons Chief Washakie and Sacagawea. How many Wyoming natives have their images on a coin, for example?
For a while, Olympian Rulon Gardner was the toast of the world and is still making headlines. Other famous Olympians include Pepi Stiegler and Tommy Moe.
A case could be made for the cartoon figure Yogi Bear from Jellystone Park, who has helped make Yellowstone National Park the international icon that it is.
When I was earning my masters degree in Wales, I would attend local Rotary Club meetings. When I said where I lived was next to Yellowstone Park, they would all laugh and shout “Yogi Bear,” which was apparently the only cartoon fare these folks could see when they were children.
And finally, my choice for the biggest worldwide Wyoming icon is horse trader Darrell Winfield of Shoshoni. His face has been scattered across the world and at one time was listed by Guinness, I believe, as the most published face in the world.
Who is he? Well, he was the Marlboro Man.
Not sure even Dick Cheney’s visage has been displayed around the world as much as Darrell’s. If Mr. Cheney has any competition, this would be the only one that I can think of at this time.
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